Whataburger ads: Buh-bye Texas voice, hello documentaries

Longtime ad voice is being traded in for a documentary format.

Updated 8:26 pm, Thursday, October 6, 2011

Say goodbye, hamburger lovers, to that gravelly-voiced pitchman who mixed subtle humor with a slight Texas twang to promote the Whataburger experience on television and radio for the last nine years.

Next week, the San Antonio-based hamburger chain will roll out a “substantial new approach” to its marketing efforts with documentary-style ads featuring employees and customers using their own words to describe what makes Whataburger special. Rich Scheffler, group director of marketing for Whataburger Restaurants, believes the campaign will show how important Whataburger's people are to its success and will keep the company moving forward.

“It just feels right for who we are,” Scheffler said.

With the new style, however, the down-home voice that has symbolized Whataburger while causing more than a few chuckles will have to, well, take a hike.

The voice belongs to native Ohioan William H. Bassett, a 75-year-old whose card describes him as “Actor and Existentialist.” Bassett has had parts in television series since the late 1950s as well as such movies as the original version of “The Karate Kid” and 2003's “House of 1000 Corpses.”

Photo: PHOTO COURTESY WILLIAM H. BASSETT

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William H. Bassett, 75. This actor from Ohio, who lives outside Hollywood Calif., was the voices of Whataburger commercials for nine years. It was his best-paying gig, but the ad campaign is being changed. The new ads are documentary in style.

William H. Bassett, 75. This actor from Ohio, who lives outside Hollywood Calif., was the voices of Whataburger commercials for nine years. It was his best-paying gig, but the ad campaign is being changed. The

Stills from the shoot for the new advertising campaign for Whataburger. The new ads are documentary-styled, and feature interviews with customers and employees. The ads replace the well-known ones with the gravelly voiceovers.

Stills from the shoot for the new advertising campaign for Whataburger. The new ads are documentary-styled, and feature interviews with customers and employees. The ads replace the well-known ones with the

Actor William H. Bassett provided the voiceover for Whataburger commercials for nine years

Actor William H. Bassett provided the voiceover for Whataburger commercials for nine years

Photo: PHOTO COURTESY WILLIAM H. BASSETT

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Whataburger employees smile for the camera in one of the new documentary commercials set to air on television starting next week.

Whataburger employees smile for the camera in one of the new documentary commercials set to air on television starting next week.

Photo: PHOTO COURTESY WHATABURGER

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The new Whataburger television ads were shot in the style of a documentary and feature interviews with customers and employees. Viewers probably will notice that they no longer feature a twangy, downhome male announcer proclaiming, “Just like you like it.”

The new Whataburger television ads were shot in the style of a documentary and feature interviews with customers and employees. Viewers probably will notice that they no longer feature a twangy, downhome male

But Bassett said the Whataburger ads probably provided him more recognition — especially in Texas and nine other Southern states where Whataburger operates — and income than any other project.

“I can't have hard feelings. It was a very nice meal ticket for all those years,” Bassett said in a strikingly un-twangy voice by phone from his California home. “Those gigs are few and far between. I couldn't expect it to last a lifetime.”

He said the Texas accent he acquired for the ads was not his natural voice.

“I'm not sure I have a natural voice anymore,” Bassett said.

He said he used a Southern lilt he'd picked up from a sister-in-law from Georgia and “put a little gravel in it” for the audition with Whataburger — and it worked.

“It became the Whataburger guy,” said Bassett, who is competing for more jobs, including roles reading audio books. “It was a good voice.”

Scheffler said the campaign featuring Bassett has been “very successful” and that Bassett's voice, recognizable enough to attract mimics on YouTube, may be missed by some consumers.

But he believes the revised campaign, developed by the same Austin ad agency that produced the current marketing effort, McGarrah Jessee, will attract a strong following as well.

“It's not a repositioning of the brand,” said Scheffler. “We felt we had a lot to say about our people. This is a new way to tell the story.”

The campaign includes new print, outdoor and online advertising, along with radio and TV. It expands the company's digital media pitches with interactive ads on Hulu and Facebook, and also boosts its Spanish-language outreach with a campaign developed by FPO Multicultural Marketing of San Antonio.

Scheffler said the radio promotion should begin on Tuesday. The new television advertising is scheduled to start the next day.

The company would not divulge the campaign's cost.

Whataburger has more than 700 locations and annual sales of more than $1 billion, the company said. The newest rankings from industry magazine QSR said Whataburger has the seventh-highest average unit sales of any chain in the quick-service, fast casual sector.